News briefs

September 5, 2016

Med J Aust 2016; 205 (5): 197.

doi:10.5694/mja16.n0509

Author: Cate Swannell

Ken Harvey awarded ANZAAS Medal

Dr Ken Harvey, renowned anti-pseudoscience activist and critic of regulatory agencies, has been awarded the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS) Medal for 2016. Dr Harvey, who is adjunct associate professor in Monash University’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, was presented with medal by Dr Malcolm Jenkins, the chair of ANZAAS, on 17 August. The medal is awarded each year for “services for the advancement of science or administration and organisation of scientific activities, or the teaching of science throughout Australia and New Zealand and in contributions to science that lie beyond normal professional activities”. Sir Gus Nossal and Sir Mark Oliphant are previous winners. Dr Harvey is an executive member of Friends of Science in Medicine (FSM), and has a national reputation as a strong champion of evidence-based medicine and treatment. “My interest in unethical promotion started in the 1970s when I was trying to contain hospital acquired antibiotic-resistant microorganisms,” Dr Harvey said. “I advocated the use of older, narrow-spectrum, more cost-effective antibiotics. The response of many pharmaceutical companies was, ‘You can’t afford to be wrong, use our latest, broadest-spectrum and most expensive antibiotics.’ A number of purveyors of complementary, alternative and integrative medicine…